10 Interesting things about Congo

10 Interesting things about Congo : Congo is one of the finest safari destinations in Africa with many interesting things, Congo formerly known as Zaire and officially known as Democratic Republic of Congo is located in Central Africa with Kinshasa as the capital city the largest city in Central Africa.

Below are the10 interesting things about Congo

1. Music is the biggest export of Congo

Congo as a country is known to be a center of music on the African continent with some of the biggest star not only in Congo but in Africa as well, the stars are only compared to big international stars such as Grammy winning Justin Bieber and they can fill arenas. These super stars include Koffi Olamide, Papa Wemba and Werrason among others.

The music styles in originating from Congo are known as Congolese rumba, Soukous and ndombolo. These style of music are accompanied by particular dances, Antoine Wendo Kolosoy also known as Papa Wendo is acknowledged as the creator of the Rumba Congolaise. He began a 7 decades long career of singing while working on the barges that ply the Congo River, some of his songs include Marie – Louise. His songs have influenced and inspired millions of artists across the continent and entertained millions of people all over the world.

In this new era, the younger artists have moved on to the more provocative, suggestive and energetic moves of ndombolo which is loud and extremely popular.

Congolese musicians have also spawned a well dressed segment of society known as Sapeurs, for this group of people it is mandatory to wear the best European-cut suits, matching Italian leather shoes and sunglasses even at night.

2. The Concorde was a regular visitor to the Congolese Jungle

Gbadolite town in Congo is considered to be one of weirdest towns in the world, this town has an airport which was built to accommodate the Concorde. This now-retired plane visited the town frequently.

The airport was in 1960s close to the birth place of Mobutu the then president of Congo, following a design taken directly from small – town France. Even the streets signs were similar to the ones in Paris, Marseille, a village near the Belgian border. Dominating this weird town were two places, one in the form of a gigantic complex of Chinese pagodas.

Dictator Mobutu Sese Seko built one of the longest airstrips in Africa in the middle nowhere so that this sleek supersonic jet “Concorde” could land at the imitation French Town he had curved out a jungle near the banks of the Oubangui River.

Dictator Mobutu was always concerned with security, he had what was the largest bunker in Africa at that time built in case of nuclear attack. A 12 kilometers tunnel leading to the Oubangui River functioned as an escape route to the neighboring Central African Republic .

Currently, there is no much left of the grad Gbadolite town, it has been looted several times since Mobutu fled advancing rebel forces in 1997. The jungle is also quickly reclaiming its lost grounds.

3. Kinshasa is the second largest French speaking city World

Kinshasa formerly known as Leopoldville is the capital and the largest city of the Democratic Republic of Congo, this city is the largest francophone city in the world and the second-largest French speaking city in the world after Paris.

Though there is no clear statistics, Kinshasa city’s population is about 10 millions and it has grown dramatically in the last 15 years, this is due to the number of people fleeing conflicts in other parts of Congo.

Because of the French- language credentials, Kinshasa city was able to host the Summit of La Francophonoe in October 2012, this was the largest gathering in the world of heads of state of French – speaking countries. Kinshasa city is filled with the baguettes and croissants rivaling items produced on le vieux continent.

4. Congo played a role in World War II

Indirectly Congo played a tremendous role in a World War Ii, the Uranium used in the Manhattan Project – a top secret millions that led to the construction of the atomic bomb in World War II was mined from the Shinkolobwe mine in Katanga Province.

The US Military reopened the Shinkolobwe Mine after it had been closed in 1939, once the army engineer got the mine again, Col. Ken Nichols arranged for the purchase of more than 4,000 tons of Uranium ore from the mine , transporting a quarter of it to a warehouse on Staten island to be used in the project and about 30,000 tons were sold to the Americans before the war came to an end.

Shinkolobwe Mine has been officially closed since 2004, however private miners still try to access the mine to carry out their own extractions. Still, the first nuclear reactor built in Africa is can still be found in Kinshasa.

5. In Congo, locals eat Mayo with everything

A legacy of the Belgian Colonial period in Congo is the extremely overwhelming preference for  huge blobs of mayonnaise on also everything that can be eaten, from meat, fish, fried plantains, manioc, peas to salads among others.

Most Congolese choose to mix the mayonnaise  with extremely potent local chill pepper sauce known as Piri Piri or pepper pepper in Swahili. Mixing, mayonnaise with pepper with a delicious combination which tones down the fieriness of the pepper and adds flavor to the mayonnaise

6. Kinshasa and Brazzaville are the world’s closest capitals

Kinshasa city the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo and Brazzaville the capital of the Republic of Congo are the world’s closest capitals, these two cities are separated by the Congo River which is the World’s second-largest river by volume and widens to 5 kilometers.

Connecting to these two cities is by boat, though there have been talks of building a bridge to connect the cities. Passenger crossing the river can choose to use a more up market and tranquil crossing in a speedboat or in one of the large, over laden ferries.  These ferries transport several goods such as flour and dried fish, cars and furniture.

People with disabilities are given allowance to cross the river for free and they are heavily involved in the goods trade.

The cities of Kinshasa and Brazzaville are separated by only a few kilometers of water and their inhabitants speak the same language, however the residents of the two capitals often behave like they come from different worlds. People from the tranquil city of Brazzaville are more than 1 million, look warily upon their noisy partying neighbors of Kinshasa.

7. Congo’s wildlife is phenomenal

Congo inhabits an abundance of phenomenal wildlife species including the rare Okapi which is one of 1,500 animal species endemic to the Congo, the Okapis inhabit in the remote Ituri Forest in the North Eastern part of Congo.

The Okapis are built more like a deer with strips similar to a zebras’, they are also referred to as forest giraffe measuring 6 feet at the head and 5 feet at the shoulder. Okapi is an endangered animal and in Congo they are found in the Okapi Widllife Reserve established in 1992 to protect the remaining population, and also as a habitat of the Mbuti pygmies one of the last forest dwelling people on the continent.

The Okapi Wildlife Reserve and its tourism facilities are managed by the The Okapi Conservation Project, the reserve is situated on the Epulu River and is about 13,726.25 square kilometers. The Okapi Wildlife Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and alongside the Okapis, there over 5,000 Okapis, 4,000 elephants and 2,000 elephants among other species.

8. Congo is not overrun by the Ebola virus

Congo has been a scene for several outbreaks of Ebola  with the most notable being the 1955 outbreak in Kikwit the killed over 200 people, however the more recent outbreaks have been quickly contained and remain rare.

Ebola is highly lethal and is transmitted from animals to humans when they eat infected mean, several movies such as Outbreak and Congo maintained the impression that it is easy to catch Embola Virus in Congo as it is to catch a common cold in New York.

In Congo, Bush meat remains an important source of protein  to many Congolese living outside urban areas though it is dangerous. Public health campaigns are ongoing to Congo to educate the masses about dangers of bush meat in relation to Ebola.

9. Congo is a potential tourist paradise

Congo is a potential tourist paradise for primate safaris as it hosts several primate species including mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, and eastern low land gorillas among others. Sadly the eastern part of Congo is more known for its warlords, rebel groups and mineral conflicts and not its tourist potential.

Before instability broke out in Congo, the country was famous known for being a great tourist destination, the provincial capitals of North and South Kivu of Goma and Bukavu respectively are on the banks of Lake Kivu are surrounded by the Virunga Mountains. The area  around Goma bears a beautiful resemblance to alpine lakes in Europe, there are 2 national parks nearby that is Virunga national park to the north and the Kahuzi – Biega National park outside Bukavu . These national parks are UNESCO World Heritage site, Virunga national park comprises of lowland plains to the Rwenzori Mountains reaching the heights of 5,000 meters. The park is a home to the most active volcanoes that is Nyirangongo and the Nyamulagira, Kahuzi-Biega is a home to one of the largest population of eastern lowland gorillas.

10. Congo has a decent, growing and expensive hotels

10 years ago, Congo’s capital city Kinshasa has only 2 hotels fitting the international standards that is Memling owned by the SN Brussels Airline Group and the Grand Hotel – former intercontinental owned by the Congolese government.  Following the overthrow of Mobutu in 1997 and during the subsequent war between 1998 – 2002, the Grand Hotel was a home to the government ministers and the upper ranks of the Angolan, Namibian and Zimbabwean armies which has been sent to defend the government of Laurent Kabila.

During that time it was so common to see antelopes running through the hotel corridors, today the Grand Hotel is in its final phases of a much needed face-lift and most of its occupants tend to come from the business sector.

Kinshasa city and Congo are flocked by many international business people and because this, there are about 6 decent hotels ranging from basic to luxurious.